In the production of veneer particularly for the manufacture of plywood, it is customary to peel a bolt of wood on a lathe using a cutting edge substantially parallel to the axis of rotation of the bolt thereby to produce a length of veneer with both side edges essentially the same length so a uniform thickness veneer with little or no tendency to curve is produced.
A system has recently been devised for tapered peeling veneer to increase the yield from a log or bolt and improve, for some purposes, the quality of the veneer being produced. Such a system is described in Canadian Application No. 535,219 filed Apr. 21, 1987 by Barnes (U.S. Application No. 040,331 filed Apr. 21, 1987 by Barnes, now U.S. Pat. No. 4,732,183).
When veneer is peeled on a taper as defined in the Barnes application the side edge of the veneer cut at the larger diameter end of the bolt is longer than the side edge of the veneer formed from the smaller diameter end of the bolt. Veneer cut in this manner tends to curve and cannot be clipped in the conventional manner if the main advantages of tapered peeling are to be better ensured.
In a companion application by R. M. Knudson filed on the same day as this application a system of clipping is described wherein full or partial panels or sheets are formed by clipping. A clipping knife is angularly adjusted relative to the axis of rotation of the block during peeling to clip full panels with thin sides parallel and partial panels with thin sides at an acute angle. These partial panels are preferrably half panels so that two can be coupled together (after rotating 180.degree.) to form a full panel having parallel side walls and thereby minimize waste.